SHADOWY dealers are using code words to trade ivory over the internet, a shock cybercrime report reveals today.

The revelation comes as the Government announces its major offensive to stop the slaughter of the planet’s last elephants, which are being killed at the rate of 20,000 every year.

While Britain is leading the way to crackdown on the trade in so-called “white gold” with the toughest proposed laws in Europe, a new wildlife trafficking report reveals how ivory dealing is masked by smoke and mirrors.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is highlighting the extent of online ivory dealing in the UK, France, Germany and Russia in its new report: Disrupt: Wildlife Cybercrime – Uncovering the scale of online wildlife trade.

Over a six-week period last year, IFAW’s team of experts uncovered a £3 million online wildlife market across these countries, with more than 5,000 adverts, involving 11,772 endangered and threatened specimens.

Shockingly, 80 per cent of the sales items were for live animals, with tortoises, parrots, owls, primates and even big cats on offer, highlighting how the craze of exotic pets is ever popular.

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Yet researchers also discovered almost a fifth of the advertisements were offering ivory or suspected ivory products.

It is the way that ivory is still highly prized in the British marketplace that stresses the urgent need for the Government’s proposed ban.

IFAW Global Wildlife Cybercrime Project Lead Tania McCrea-Steele warned today: “While the UK has seen a significant drop in the number of ivory advertisements compared to items highlighted in our 2014 wildlife cybercrime report, Wanted – Dead or Alive, UK ivory advertisements were frequently found to use code words, suggesting that while progress has been made in reducing online ivory sales, some traders are changing the language of posts to evade detection.

“IFAW is urging the Government to do all it can to ensure swift passage of its promised comprehensive UK ivory ban into legislation to provide vital protection for elephants.”

As far as other wildlife being offered for sale in the UK, IFAW reserachers came across adverts for 2,456 specimens on 35 online marketplaces and three social media platforms with a value of £741,676.

African wildlife up close and personal

Penny Robartes, a Photo Tour Leader for ORYX captured these stunning up close and personal wildlife images. www.oryxphotography.com

As a wildlife photographer, I constantly have to be aware of the scene around the subject I'm wanting to photograph. The background is as important as the animal. Arriving at the scene of sleeping lions, I was very aware of the beautiful colours behind hi

Efforts to clampdown on wildlife sales over the internet have seen IFAW, along with fellow conservation organisations, WWF and TRAFFIC, working with technology companies to reduce trafficking online by 80 per cent over the next two years.

“However, our work, alongside this report, shows that by partnering with them, we have been successful in driving down trade on certain platforms.”

Speaking on behalf of eBay, Wolfgang Weber, its head of global regulation, said: “eBay remains committed to protecting the world’s most endangered and threatened species.

“Through our continued dedication to this worldwide issue, we prevented or removed more than 45,000 listings last year that violated wildlife trade policies.

“Maintaining a close relationship with IFAW, as well as partnering with peers on initiatives such as the Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, is resulting in powerful and effective means to achieve sustainable results.”